Unified Vidya Games thread

[Cain]

I haven't played the quest yet and it's still under NDA, but there appear to be some cool lore nuggets.

The whole story Tharn has you investigate for the starter quest is interesting. It suggests that dragons may have somehow driven the establishment of Elsweyr and the unification of the clans, though how exactly is not clear.

ZOS have not forgotten that there were Akaviri in Rimmen not long ago. Akaviri dragon hunting techniques apparently include huge horns that can Dragonrend the giant flying lizards, which makes sense given how we get Dragonrend in Skyrim.

There will be Alfiq! ZOS is committed to showing variant Khajiit races.

Hopefully this plot will also tie into Meridia being the new "big bad" of the series, as alluded to at the end of Summerset. One of the DLC dungeons which also ties into this plot involved retrieving a tablet which was defended by Meridia cultists and daedra. There were some nods towards Umaril the Unfeathered in that dungeon, though the slippery bastard didn't make an appearance himself.  Given it was Tharn's fuckup that saw the dragons released we can't lay complete blame at Meridia's feet, but the main quest also appears to involve necromancy in some aspect, so that will narc her off.

[Cain]

Dragon fights are fun:



Sadly, quite lacking on the lore front, at least in the main quest. No Meridia at all either, so I guess they're saving that subplot for a rainy day.

[altered]

That's disappointing. They've not wrecked anything either, I hope?

[Cain]

The hearts of nightblades and Wardens everywhere through balance changes 

Nothing that I saw.  However, I have yet to delve deeply into the side-quests. The Akaviri presence is understated, and in the main quest it is more the Akaviri-derived Dragonguard which have a role to play. Zumog Phoom is a total edgelord, and pushing his shit in in under 10 seconds on my appallingly well-optimized Dragonknight was terribly satisfying. Khajiit accents are hit and miss, but Khajiit-speak is done right.  Khajiiti variety is evident.  That the events caused a "false eclipse" of some kind is noted, with the Mane reportedly worried about the arcane implications, was a nice nod the lore and something that I hadn't considered.

But the story focuses far more on installing a new ruler in Rimmen and on Sir Cadwell's backstory. There is a very strong implication that the story will be fully resolved in southern Elsweyr when that zone is released in Q3.

[Cain]

So, Wizards of the Coast have finally decided what they want to do in order to promote 5E in gaming.

They licenced Larian Studios to make Baldur's Gate 3.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=189&v=LI4v6hC_rjM

[Junkenstein]

Unfamiliar with larian, is this good or bad news?

I assume bad, as a quick Google indicates nothing good. Casino and education games along with 1 main IP.

[Cain]

Their Divinity 2: Original Sin is very highly praised in the CRPG world, and is one of the oft-touted "spiritual successors" to Baldur's Gate.

While I have some queries regarding them (their games do have a lot of humour and while that was also true of BG, it was not to the detriment of the darker aspects of the series), they would have been one of my main choices, along with Obsidian and maybe Beamdog, before most of the old crew subsequently left again. In fact, it seems very likely that Beamdog also made the BG3 pitch but, for whatever reasons, didn't make the cut, leading to those departures.

They don't intend to use the Infinity Engine, which is probably a good thing, and from the sound of it they've had success at translating the 5E ruleset, a modified version of which will be used for the game, into the engine.

It also sounds like, in addition to having something to do with mind flayers, perhaps referencing the abandoned BG2 plotline involving Athkatla, the slave trade, the illithids and the Twisted Rune, the plot will heavily lean on the 5E modules that have already dealt with the return of Bhaal, the "Murder in Baldur's Gate" one and an upcoming one from later this year, "Descent into Avernus".  Basically, Gorion's Ward cannonically murdered or was killed by Viekang (the teleporting Bhaalspawn from BG2 and Throne of Bhaal), leading to the victor transforming into the Ravager and being killed by a group of adventurers, leading to Bhaal's resurrection. So Bhaal's already back, seized the murder domain from Cyric and seems to be involving himself in the Blood War to some capacity.

[Junkenstein]

Oh shit. That actually sounds kind of decent so I'm now very wary. Calling it now, there's going to be tons of potential that comes to fuck all like that damn planescape successor.

Not surprised beamdog didn't get it, the remasters were nothing special and the kindest thing I can say about siege of dragonspear is "dull". The quality of the writing was aroundthird rate fan fiction which is less than ideal for a text heavy game.

[Cain]

Yeah. On the plus side, they're experienced RPG devs who seem to have a real passion for D&D, which is basically the background that the Black Isle guys had when they made the first two games. I'm pretty sure they will give it a good shot, if nothing else.

That said, there are no guarantees it will be amazing. Even if they do everything right...well, Wizards of the Coast own the IP and they have the final say. I know this is one problem that chafed for Bioware in particular...David Gaider, the lead writer on BG2 wanted to make the consequences and impact of the Bhaalspawn conflict far more devastating than WotC were comfortable with at the time (this is one reason Bioware did not pursue contracts after Neverwinter Nights, instead working on their own Dragon Age IP). They also want to tie it into existing storylines quite closely, which will no doubt add further restrictions.

Baldur's Gate is, 100 years on from the Bhaalspawn saga, the major city of the Sword Coast, eclipsing both Neverwinter and Waterdeep in terms of military power and wealth. It's going to be a hard sell to have meaningful player choices and outcomes if WotC are like "don't blow up Baldur's Gate, don't kill Elminster, don't become a god" every five minutes.

Without the infinity engine and particularly if they go in on a fully 3D world, it will likely have a very different feel to the previous games. This will likely carry over into certain engine quirks, for example (Larian are very good at environmental interactions...a feature largely absent from Baldur's Gate). Throw in the 5E ruleset and new composers working on new tracks and I could see that being very jarring, even if it's not bad. Larian also haven't mentioned whether combat will be turn-based, as with their games, or more like the BG "real-time with pausing" approach.

[altered]

Larian has done a lot of work outside of the turn based realm. Divinity 2 was a third person action RPG in the very rough vein of Elder Scrolls, Gothic, etc (roaming crafting and questing), and the first two Divinity games were halfway between Diablo style hack and slash and semi-tactical CRPG combat of the BG type. Hell, they did Dragon Commander, an action strategy game. The Original Sin games are not their bread and butter, just their best known stuff.

Honestly, I think the one place you don't need to be even remotely worried about them is in gameplay, they have run the gamut and consistently done well. They even tend to get a good balance of gameplay and story, just their writing has the tone of the first Wizardry game more than what people think of with the Black Isle stuff.

[Junkenstein]

Casino game background. Wotc. Current modern trends says there's plenty to potentially be worried about.

[Cramulus]

I'm pre-horny for Elden Ring, the From Soft + George R R Martin project.

[Cain]

Ah I never played those other Larian games, though I know they generally have a good rep, but I also know that turn-based gameplay is a big point of contention with the BG community.

I'm pre-horny for Elden Ring, the From Soft + George R R Martin project.

Same. I remember there were rumours, but everyone kinda brushed them off and said "nah".

[altered]

Ah I never played those other Larian games, though I know they generally have a good rep, but I also know that turn-based gameplay is a big point of contention with the BG community.

I'm pre-horny for Elden Ring, the From Soft + George R R Martin project.

Same. I remember there were rumours, but everyone kinda brushed them off and said "nah".

Honestly, only the first two are genuinely amazing. Divinity 2 was their worst game by far, a solid 7/10 in a history of easy 8/10s or above. Divine Divinity is a must-play if you want to know what I'd expect from a new Baldur's Gate made by them, and Dragon Commander is worth your time if you want to see them completely off the rails and having total creative control.

Larian is IMO the strongest link in the chain for a new Baldur's Gate game. If anyone is going to fuck up, it'll be a writer on loan from WotC, or WotC strongarming a competent team into making a dumpster fire out of a property guaranteed to make a profit. Larian's core team will be the least responsible for any mishaps, I'm quite confident.

Fair notice: I'm not even their biggest fan, I've played all their games except DOS2, but the humor was a turnoff for me. I was never a fan of how they put their worlds together and felt they tended to spread their gameplay thin, relying too much on one-time mechanics and environmental gimmicks. I also wasn't the biggest fan of the Baldur's Gate games, I always preferred Troika's CRPGs and the old Fallout games for my fix. I still am confident that I will be a big fan of BG3, and that Larian is, if anything, a BETTER choice for the game than Obsidian or InXile. They will go tooth and nail with publishers and win, like they did with JoWooD, where Obsidian and InXile both tend to bend the knee historically speaking. See NWN2 and Hunted (which I truly deeply loved despite its mass market committee focus group designed bullshit), respectively.

[Cain]

The thing is, when people say "Obsidian" they actually just mean "Josh Sawyer" anyway, who will probably end up with a freelance consulting gig on the game, much like he did for Pathfinder: Kingmaker.